Effects of Slow Tempo Exercise on Respiration, Heart Rate, and Mood State

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate psychophysiologic responses to slow movement tempo exercise in three experiments. Exps. 1 and 2 were designed to compare slow with preferred movement tempos chosen freely by the subjects. The task movements in Exp. 1 were repetitive Arm Swinging, Stepping, and Body Swaying, performed by 14 female undergraduate students, while in Exp. 2, Body Swaying and Arm Winding were performed by 10 female undergraduate students and 13 boys and girls junior high school students. Respiration, heart rate, and scores on the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory were measured. Analysis showed respiration rates were lower during slow tempo conditions than preferred conditions. Exp. 3 was designed to compare very slow with slow movement tempos, using a Tai Chi-type of movement performed by 6 female undergraduate students. The subjects were required to synchronize the task movement with auditory stimuli, during which respiration and heart rate were measured, and a UWIST Mood-Adjective Checklist was utilized. Under the very slow movement conditions, Energetic Arousal scores were lower than those for the slow movement and the variation of respiration between rest and task conditions corresponded inversely with the Tense Arousal scores. Together, our results suggest that slow tempo exercise does not increase physiological or psychological arousal.

Tai Chi as an Alternative and Complimentary Therapy for Anxiety

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“…For this review, it is important to differentiate between studies that utilized the randomized control trial design 5,12,15,16,18,20,22,23 as opposed to quasi-experimental, 9,21 pretest/posttest design, 2,10,13,19 or any variation 11,14,17 that does not include randomly assigning subjects to a control or intervention group. Randomized control designs are characterized by their use of randomly assigning subjects to control and intervention groups—making them the most robust type of study design.…”

“…11 Another study that did not utilize the 3 common designs indicated above involved 2 interventions for 2 different samples. 14 Last, one study applied a single case research design—focusing on a small sample size of children suffering from attention deficient hyperactivity disorder. 17…”

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